Grading
September 6 & 7, 2003
Our property is nowhere near flat or level, so I'll need to do a significant amount of grading
(digging and filling) in order to create a trackline that has no more than a 2% grade (no steeper
than 2 feet per 100 feet of track). I've actually taken on more grading than is minimally
required - I've incorporated a long cut/tunnel that could easily have been avoided, but I thought
a tunnel would be more interesting and fun.
As a result, there's no way I can grade this manually - I need big-time power tools, so I rented a backhoe!
(This is actually a Kubota L48, which is slightly larger than the L35 that I rented)
At one point the track will pass thru a pile of wood that used to be barn:
Click here to view this location highlighted on the trackplan
(Note: click on any image to see a larger version)
Here's the same spot looking the other way.
The barn-pile is at the very left; the wall on the right is over 6 feet tall.
The next obstacle was a small hill that's just outside the basement "walkout" doors.
Click here to view this location highlighted on the trackplan
Here's the hill before I started digging:
and after:
On the back side of that hill is a long, straight section that runs along a small slope.
Click here to view this location highlighted on the trackplan
This isn't graded yet, but you can see the future trackline marked by the flagged stakes. Off to the right of this
pic is a low area that I'll cross with a deck truss bridge:
Finally you come to the biggest grading challenge, the long cut/tunnel at the "Summit".
Click here to view this location highlighted on the trackplan
From end to end, the cut will be over 200' long
with a maximum depth of over 7 feet. Once it'a entirely dug and graded, I'll select the deepest
portion and build wooden walls and a roof, then back-fill it to create a tunnel. I'm guessing
that the tunnel will be about 50' long and 5' tall with one to three feet of dirt over the top.
Here's a slideshow of the cut:
Sometimes pictures don't give a good impression of scale.
Click here to see how big the boulder in that last pic really is!
And here's a slideshow of the to-be-dug portion of the cut:
Here's the backhoe in action:
and again in the same place, showing the depth of the cut:
Naturally, the Bee wanted several tractor rides:
On to the next round of grading...
